The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission have prepared a report on the Irish residential property market and have called for more transparency in the homebuying process. In 2024, there was approximately 61,000 property transactions with a value of around €25 billion and an average price of €365,000 paid for the property.
The report highlights a number of factors related to customer experience when buying a home. The report found that consumers view friends and family as their most trusted source for information when buying at 79%, followed by the buyers’ solicitor at 78% and engineers at 73%. Buyers view sellers and estate agents as the least trustworthy at 16% and 22% respectively.
Consumers main concern is transparency with only 16% of buyers believing the current system is transparent. 78% of consumers agreed that if a buyer asks the estate agent a question about the property, then they should be obliged to answer it. The report found 30% of homeowners discovered something they wish they had known about the property before they made the purchase and 56% of these buyers report that they would have lowered their offer or withdrawn completely if they had known about the issue.
The CCPC have made a number of recommendations including legislation for the introduction of pre-sale enquiries which would help avoid sales falling through, a new conveyancing profession, disclosure of information on property platforms and consolidation of public sector agency information.
Consumers are seeking more transparency in the homebuying process and the implementation of the CCPC’s recommendations would lead to buyers being better protected and reducing the risk of costly surprises.